| | | The Roman province of Macedonia was officially established in 146 BC, after the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus defeated Andriscus of Macedon in 148 BC, and after the four client republics established by Rome in the region were dissolved. The province incorporated Epirus Vetus, Thessaly, and parts of Illyria and Thrace.In the 3rd or 4th century, the province of Macedonia was divided into Macedonia Prima (in the south) and Macedonia Salutaris (in the north).Macedonia Prima and Macedonia Salutaris were included in the Diocese of Macedonia, one of three dioceses which were included in the Prefecture of Illyricum, organized in 318. When the Prefecture of Illyricum was divided into a Western and Eastern Illyricum in 379, the Macedonian provinces were included in Eastern Illyricum. After the split of the Roman Empire into a Western and Eastern Empire in 395, Macedonia passed into the Byzantine Empire. |
In his writings, Paul of Tarsus mentions Macedonia numerous times: - Acts 16:6
Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.
Acts 16:5-7 (in Context) - Acts 16:9
During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
Acts 16:8-10 (in Context) - Acts 16:10
After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Acts 16:9-11 (in Context) - Acts 16:12From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
Acts 16:11-13 (in Context) - Acts 18:5
When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
Acts 18:4-6 (in Context) - Acts 19:21
After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. "After I have been there," he said, "I must visit Rome also."
Acts 19:20-22 (in Context) - Acts 19:22
He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.
Acts 19:21-23 (in Context) - Acts 19:29
Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater.
Acts 19:28-30 (in Context) - Acts 20:1
When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia.
Acts 20:1-3 (in Context) - Acts 20:3
where he stayed three months. Because the Jews made a plot against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.
Acts 20:2-4 (in Context) - Acts 27:2
We boarded a ship from Adramyttium about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.
Acts 27:1-3 (in Context) - Romans 15:26
For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
Romans 15:25-27 (in Context) - 1 Corinthians 16:5
After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you—for I will be going through Macedonia.
1 Corinthians 16:4-6 (in Context) - 2 Corinthians 1:16
I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea.
2 Corinthians 1:15-17 (in Context) - 2 Corinthians 2:13
I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.
2 Corinthians 2:12-14 (in Context) - 2 Corinthians 7:5
For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within.
2 Corinthians 7:4-6 (in Context) - 2 Corinthians 8:1
And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.
2 Corinthians 8:1-3 (in Context) - 2 Corinthians 9:2
For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.
2 Corinthians 9:1-3 (in Context) - 2 Corinthians 9:4
For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident.
2 Corinthians 9:3-5 (in Context) - 2 Corinthians 11:9
And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.
2 Corinthians 11:8-10 (in Context) - Philippians 4:15
Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only;
Philippians 4:14-16 (in Context) - 1 Thessalonians 1:7
And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
1 Thessalonians 1:6-8 (in Context) - 1 Thessalonians 1:8
The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
1 Thessalonians 1:7-9 (in Context) - 1 Thessalonians 4:10
And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
1 Thessalonians 4:9-11 (in Context) - 1 Timothy 1:3
As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer
1 Timothy 1:2-4 (in Context) Early history |
Macedonia is known to have been inhabited from Neolithic times. Early inhabitants of the region were the Pelasgians, Thracians, the Paionians, Ancient Macedonians, and Illyrians. Thracians in early times occupied mainly the eastern parts of Macedonia(Mygdonia, Crestonia, Bisaltia) but were also present in Eordaia and Pieria. Paionians once occupied many parts of Macedonia: Pelagonia, Paionia, and the area around the Axios. The ancient Macedonians lived mostly in the area of the Aliakmon river in what is now Greek Macedonia. The ancient Macedonians would later expand into other parts of Macedonia.The Ancient Macedonians |  Macedonia province within the Roman Empire, c. 120.
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According to ancient Greek mythology, Macedon - ancient Greek ΜΑΚΕΔΩΝ (Makedōn), poetic ΜΑΚΗΔΩΝ (Makēdōn) - was the name of the first phylarch (tribal chief) of the ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΕΣ (Makedónes). The only surviving historical reference on the ethnic origin of the Macedonians comes from the Greek historian Herodotus, who in his Histories states that the Dorian tribes passed into the area of the Pindus mountains, and were known as Makednoi (Macedonians). These Macedonians seem to have been left behind during the great Dorian invasion (Histories 1.56.1). The region of Macedonia (Gr. ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑ) most likely took its name from this tribe, which according to Herodotus was called Makednoi (ΜΑΚΕΔΝΟΙ). The word "Makednos" derives from the Doric Greek word ΜΑΚΟΣ - "makos" (Attic form ΜΗΚΟΣ - "mékos"), which is Greek for "length". This theory seems to be in agreement with Herodotus' records. According to scholars Macedonians took this name either because they were physically tall, or because they settled in the mountains. The latter definition would translate "Macedonian" as "Highlander".Most academics take the view that the ancient Macedonians probably spoke either a language that was an idiom of the North-Western Greek dialect group (related to Doric and Aeolic), or a language very closely related to Greek which would form a Graeco-Macedonian or Hellenic branch; others such as Eugene Borza reach the conclusion that there is insufficient evidence on which to base a conclusion as to whether the original language of the Macedonians was a form of Greek or not. In any case, even if the ancient Macedonians were originally not Hellenic or part of a Graeco-Macedonian branch, but a different ethnos altogether, they would become fully Hellenised after the reign of Alexander the Great. The controversy over whether the Macedonians were originally Greek or not is caused mainly by contradictory ancient accounts, but also due to the peculiar features of many Macedonians words, though most words are consistent with Greek (see Ancient Macedonian language). Some scholars view the Pella katadesmos, written in a form of Doric Greek, as the first discovered Macedonian text. The vast majority of Macedonian names on inscriptions and coinage are Greek and conform to the Doric Greek dialect morphology.Before the reign of Alexander I, father of Perdiccas II, the ancient Macedonians lived mostly on lands adjacent to the Haliakmon, in what is now Northern Greece. The Upper Macedonian lands that were added to the Kingdom by Phillip II, were mainly inhabited by Paionians. Alexander is credited for having added to Macedon many of the lands that would become part of the core Macedonian territory: Pieria, Bottiaia, Mygdonia, and Eordaia (Thuc. 2.99). Anthemus, Crestonia, and Bisaltia also seem to have been added during his reign (Thuc. 2.99). Most of these lands were previously inhabited by Thracian tribes, and Thucydides records how the Thracians were on the whole expelled from these lands when the Macedonians acquired them.Generations after Alexander, Philip II of Macedon would add new lands to Macedonia, and also reduce neighboring powers such as the Illyrians and Paionians to semi-autonomous peoples. In Philip's time, Macedonians expanded and settled in many of the new adjoining territories, and Thrace up to the Nestus was colonized by Macedonian settlers. Strabo however testifies that the bulk of the population inhabiting in Upper Macedonia remained of Thraco-Illyrian stock. Philip's son, Alexander the Great, extended Macedonian power over key Greek city-states, and his campaigns, both local and abroad, would make the Macedonian power supreme from Greece, to Persia, Egypt, and the edge of India.Roman MacedoniaAfter the defeat of Andriscus in 148 BC, Macedonia officially became a province of the Roman Empire in 146 BC. Hellenization of the non-Greek population was not yet complete in 146 BC, and many of the Thracian and Illyrian tribes had preserved their languages. It is also possible that the ancient Macedonian tongue was still spoken, alongside Koine, the common Greek language of the Hellenistic era. From an early period, the Roman province of Macedonia included Epirus, Thessaly, parts of Thrace and Illyria, thus making the region of Macedonia permanently lose connection to its ancient borders, and now including various inhabitants. According to accounts of Livy, by the 3rd century Macedonians had adopted a purely Greek ethnic identity.Byzantine MacedoniaAs the Greek state of Byzantium gradually emerged as a successor state to the Roman Empire, Macedonia became one of its most important provinces as it was close to the Empire's capital (Constantinople) and included its second largest city (Thessaloniki). According to Byzantine maps that were recorded by Ernest Honigmann, by the 6th century AD there were two provinces carrying the name "Macedonia" in the Empire's borders:Macedonia A, which corresponded to the geographical borders of ancient Macedon (approximately equivalent to today's Greek Macedonia); Macedonia B, which corresponded to former barbaric regions that were included in Macedonia during Hellenistic and Roman times (approximately equivalent to parts of today's Southern Republic of Macedonia, Eastern Albania and Western Bulgaria). Macedonia was ravaged several times in the 4th and the 5th century by desolating onslaughts of Visigoths, Huns and Vandals. These did little to change its ethnic composition (the region being almost completely Hellenized by that time) but left much of the region depopulated.Slavic and Avar invasionsThe Slavs took advantage of the desolation left by the nomadic tribes and in the 6th century settled the Balkan Peninsula. Aided by the Avars, the Slavic tribes started in the 8th century a gradual invasion into the Greek lands of Byzantium. They invaded Macedonia and reached as far south as Thessaly and the Peloponnese, settling in isolated regions that were called by the Greeks Sclavinias, until they got gradually eliminated by the Byzantine Emperors. The Romanized Illyrian and Thracian population of Macedonia was pushed to the mountains. A number of scholars today consider that present-day Aromanians (Vlachs) and Albanians originate from this mountainous population, while many other scholars favor a Dacian or Moesian origin. The interaction between Romanised and non-Romanised indigenous peoples and the Slavs resulted in linguistic similarities which are reflected in modern Bulgarian, Albanian, Romanian and Macedonian, all of them members of the Balkan linguistic union. The Slavs occupied also the hinterland of Thessaloniki launching consecutive attacks on the city in 584, 586, 609, 620, and 622 AD. The Slavs were often joined in their onslaughts by detachments of Avars but these did not form any lasting settlements in the region. A branch of the Bulgars led by khan Kuber, however, settled western Macedonia and eastern Albania around 680 AD and also engaged in attacks on Byzantium together with the Slavs.At the beginning of the 9th century, Bulgaria conquered Northern Byzantine lands, including Macedonia B and part of Macedonia A. Those regions remained under Bulgarian rule for two centuries, until the final conquest of Bulgaria by the Byzantine Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty Basil II (nicknamed the Bulgar-slayer) in 1018.In the 11th and the 12th century, the first mention was made of two ethnic groups just off the borders of Macedonia: Arvanites in modern Albania and Vlachs (Aromanians) in Thessaly and Pindus. Modern historians are divided as to whether the Albanians came to the area then (from Dacia or Moesia) or originated from the native non-Romanized Thracian or Illyrian populations.Also in the 11th century Byzantium settled several tens of thousand Turkic Christians from Asia Minor, referred to as "Vardariotes", along the lower course of the Vardar. Colonies of other Turkic tribes such as Uzes, Petchenegs, and Cumans were also introduced at various periods from the 11th to the 13th century. All these were eventually Hellenized or Bulgarized. Roma, migrating from north India reached the Balkans, including Macedonia, around the 14th century with some of them settling there. There were successive waves of Roma immigration in the 15th and the 16th century, too.In the 13th and the 14th century, Macedonia was contested by the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, Bulgaria and Serbia but the frequent shift of borders did not result in any major population changes.Ottoman RuleMuslims and ChristiansThe initial period of Ottoman rule led a depopulation of the plains and river valleys of Macedonia. The Christian population there was supressed and escaped to the mountains. Ottoman colonists were largely brought from Asia Minor and settled parts of the region. Towns destroyed in Vardar Macedonia during the conquest were renewed, this time populated exclusively by Muslims. The Ottoman element in Macedonia was especially strong in the 17th and the 18th century with travellers defining the majority of the population, especially the urban one, as Muslim. The Ottoman population, however, sharply declined at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century on account of the incessant wars led by the Ottoman Empire, the low birth rate and the higher death toll of the frequent plague epidemics among Muslims than among Christians.The Christian population was subjected to extensive processes of forceful Islamization during the 17th and the 18th century, which affected chiefly the peasant Bulgarian population of several strategic mountain districts. Mass Islamization of Greeks also took place, though on a smaller scale in the southwestern Macedonian districts of Grevena and Kozani. The Ottoman-Habsburg war (1683-1699), the subsequent flight of a substantial part of the Serbian population in Kosovo to Austria and the reprisals and looting during the Ottoman counteroffensive led to an influx of Albanian Muslims (known as Turko-albanians) to northern and northwestern Macedonia. Being in the position of power, the Turko-Albanians managed to push out their Christian neighbours and conquered additional territories in the 18th and the 19th century. The repeated plundering of the important Aromanian city of Moscopole and other Aromanian settlements in eastern Albania in the second half of the 18th century caused a large-scale Aromanian emigration to the Macedonian cities and towns, most notably to Monastir, Krushovo and Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki became also the home of a large Jewish population following Spain's expulsions of Jews after 1492. The Jews later formed small colonies in other Macedonian cities, most notably Monastir (now Bitola) and Serres.The Greek IdeaThe rise of European nationalism in the 18th century led to the expansion of the Hellenic idea in Macedonia. Its main pillar throughout the centuries of Ottoman rule had been the indigenous Greek population of southern Macedonia. Under the influence of the Greek schools and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, however, it started to spread among the other orthodox subjects of the Empire as the urban Christian population of Slavic, Vlach and Albanian origin started to view itself increasingly more as Greek. The Greek language became a symbol of civilization and a basic means of communication between non-Muslims. The process of Hellenization was additionally reinforced after the abolition of the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid in 1767. Though with a predominantly Greek clergy, the Archbishopric did not yield to the direct order of Constantinople and had autonomy in many vital domains. The poverty of the Christian peasantry and the lack of proper schooling in villages preserved the linguistic diversity of the Macedonian countryside and averted the possibility of complete Hellenization of the region. The Hellenic idea reached its peak during the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829) which received the active support of the Greek Macedonian population as part of their struggle for the resurrection of Greek statehood.The independence of the Greek kingdom, however, dealt a nearly fatal blow to the Hellenic idea in Macedonia. The flight of the Macedonian intelligentsia to independent Greece and the mass closures of Greek schools by the Ottoman authorities weakened the Hellenic presence in the region for a century ahead, until the incorporation of southern Macedonia into Greece following the Balkan Wars in 1913.The Bulgarian IdeaBulgarian Church Congregation in Ohrid, seal from 1869The Slavs in Macedonia continued to call themselves Bulgarians during the first four centuries of Ottoman rule and were described as such by Ottoman historians like Evliya Celebi and Sa'aedin. The name meant, however, rather little in view of the political oppression by the Ottomans and the religious and cultural one by the Greek clergy. The Slavonic language was preserved as a cultural medium only in a handful of monasteries, to rise in terms of social status for the ordinary Bulgarian usually meant quick and irrevocable Hellenisation.Bulgarian Municipality in Prilep, the 1860sAlthough the first literary work in Modern Bulgarian, History of Slav-Bulgarians was written by a Macedonian-born monk, Paisiy of Hilendar as early as 1762, it took almost a century for the Bulgarian idea to regain ascendancy in the region. The Bulgarian advance in Macedonia in the 19th century was aided by the numerical superiority of the Slavs after the decrease in the Turkish population, as well as by their improved economic status. The Slavs of Macedonia took active part in the struggle for independent Bulgarian Patriarchate and Bulgarian schools. The representatives of the intelligentsia wrote in a language which they called Bulgarian and strove for a more even representation of the dialects spoken in Macedonia in formal Bulgarian. The autonomous Bulgarian Exarchate established in 1870 included northwestern Macedonia. After the overwhelming vote of the districts of Ohrid and Skopje, it grew to include the whole of present-day Vardar and Pirin Macedonia in 1874.This process of “Bulgarification” of Macedonia, however, was much less successful in southern Macedonia, which beside Slavs had compact Greek and Hellenised Aromanian population. The Hellenic idea and the Patriarchate of Constantinople preserved much of their earlier influence among the local Slavs and the arrival of the Bulgarian propaganda turned the region into a battlefield between Slavs owing allegiance to the Patriarchate and the Exarchate with division lines often separating family and kin.Independent Point of ViewThe region was further identified as predominantly Greek by French F. Bianconi in 1877 and by Englishman Edward Stanford in 1877. He maintained that the urban population of Macedonia was entirely Greek, whereas the peasantry was of mixed, Bulgarian-Greek origin and had Greek consciousness but had not yet mastered the Greek language. European ethnographs and linguists until the Congress of Berlin usually regarded the language of the Slavic population of Macedonia as Bulgarian. French scholars Ami Boué in 1840 and Guillaume Lejean in 1861, Germans August Heinrich Rudolf Griesebach in 1841, J. Hahn in 1858 and 1863, August Heinrich Petermann in 1869 and Heinrich Kiepert in 1876, Slovak Pavel Jozef Safarik in 1842 and the Czechs J. Erben in 1868 and F. Brodaska in 1869, Englishmen James Wyld in 1877 and Georgina Muir Mackenzie and Adeline Paulina Irby in 1863, Serbians Davidovitch in 1848, Constant Desjardins in 1853 and Stefan I. Verković in 1860, Russians Viktor I. Grigorovič in 1848, Vinkenty Makushev and M.F. Mirkovitch in 1867, as well as Austrian Karl Sax in 1878 published ethnography or linguistic books, or travel notes, which defined the Slavic population of Macedonia as Bulgarian. Austrian doctor Josef Müller published travel notes in 1844 where he regarded the Slavic population of Macedonia as Serbian.The predominant view of a Bulgarian character of the Slavs in Macedonia was reflected in the borders of future autonomous Bulgaria as drawn by the Constantinople Conference in 1876 and by the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878. Bulgaria according to the Constantinople Conference included present-day Vardar and Pirin Macedonia and excluded the predominantly “patriarchist” southern Macedonia. The Treaty of San Stefano, which reflected the maximum desired by Russian expansionist policy, gave Bulgaria the whole of Macedonia except Thessaloniki, the Chalcidice peninsula and the valley of the Aliakmon.The Macedonian QuestionThe decision taken at the Congress of Berlin to leave Macedonia within the borders of the Ottoman Empire soon turned the region into the apple of discord between Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria. The ruthless propaganda war, the numerous outbursts of violence, and the inability of the Great powers to come up with a satisfactory solution earned the almost constant trouble in Macedonia the name “the Macedonian Question”. Unlike most disputed territories, Macedonia’s neighbouring countries contested not only the land but also the people, each regarding them as a subset of their own peoples.Serbian Idea and Propaganda19th century Serbian nationalism viewed Serbs as the people chosen to lead and unite all southern Slavs into one country, Yugoslavia (the country of the southern Slavs). The conscience of the peripherical parts of Serbian nation grew, therefore the officials and the wide circles of population considered the Macedonians as "Southern Serbs", Bosniaks as "Islamized Serbs", and parts of today's Croatian population (Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina) as "Catholic Serbs". Generally, the Macedonian Slavs were considered Serbs, although some more liberal scholars defined the southern portion of Macedonian people as independent and different from both Serbs and Bulgarians. But, the basic interests of Serbian state policy was directed to the liberation of Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Macedonia and Vojvodina were left "to be liberated later on".The Congress of Berlin of 1878, which granted Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria-Hungary, redirected Serbia’s ambitions to Macedonia and a propaganda campaign was launched at home and abroad to prove the Serbian character of the region. A great contribution to the Serbian cause was made by Croat astronomer and historian Spiridon Gopčević (also known as Leo Brenner). Gopčević published in 1889 the ethnographic research Macedonia and Old Serbia, which defined more than three-quarters of the Macedonian population as Serbian. The population of Kosovo and northern Albania was identified as Serbian or Albanian of Serbian origin (Albanized Serbs, called "Arnauts") and the Greeks along the Aliákmon as Greeks of Serbian origin (Hellenized Serbs).The work of Gopčević was further developed by two Serbian scholars, geographer Jovan Cvijić and linguist Aleksandar Belić. Less extreme than Gopčević, Cvijić and Belić claimed only the Slavs of northern Macedonia were Serbian whereas those of southern Macedonia were identified as "Macedonian Slavs", an amorphous Slavic mass that was neither Bulgarian, nor Serbian but could turn out either Bulgarian or Serbian if the respective people were to rule the region. The only Slavs in Macedonia which were referred to as Bulgarian were those living along the Strymon (Struma) and Nestos (Mesta) rivers, i.e. present-day Pirin Macedonia and parts of northeastern Greece. Cvijić further argued that the name Bugari (Bulgarians) used by the Slavic population of Macedonia to refer to themselves actually meant only ‘rayah’ – peasant Christians – and in no case affiliations to the Bulgarian ethnicity.Greek PropagandaIt was established by the end of the 19th century that the majority of the population of central and Southern Macedonia (vilaets of Monastiri and Thessaloniki) were predominantly of ethnic Greek population, while the Northern parts of the region (vilaet of Skopje) were predominantly Slavic. Jews and Ottoman communities were scattered all over. Because of Macedonia's such polyethnic nature, the arguments which Greece used to promote its claim to the whole region were usually of historical and religious character. The Greeks consistently linked nationality to the allegiance to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Terms like and Aromanian origin which owed allegiance to the Patriarchate and had Greek schools."Bulgarophone", "Albanophone" and "Vlachophone" Greeks were coined to describe the population of Slavic, AlbanianLike the Serbian and Bulgarian propaganda efforts, the Greek one initially also concentrated on education. Greek schools in Macedonia at the turn of the 20th century totalled 927 with 1,397 teachers and 57,607 pupils. As from the 1890s Greece also started sending armed guerilla groups to Macedonia (see Greek Struggle for Macedonia) specially after the death of Pavlos Melas, which fought the detachments of IMRO, terrorised the "Exarchist" Bulgarian population and allegedly committed a massacre of some 60 peasants in the village of Zagorichani near Kastoria in 1905.The Greek cause predominated in southern Macedonia where it was supported by the native Greeks, by a substantial part of the Slavic population and by nearly all Aromanians. Support for the Greeks was much less pronounced in central Macedonia, coming from local Aromanians and only a fraction of the Slavs; in the northern parts of the region it was almost non-existent.Bulgarian PropagandaThe independence of Bulgaria in 1908 had the same effect on the Bulgarian idea in Macedonia as the independence of Greece to the Hellenic a century earlier. The consequences were closure of schools, expelling of priests of the Bulgarian Exarchate and emigration of the majority of the young Macedonian intelligentsia. This first emigration triggered a constant trickle of Macedonian-born refugees and emigrants to Bulgaria. Their number stood at ca. 100,000 by 1912.The Bulgarian idea made a remarkable comeback in the 1890s with regard to both education and armed resistance. At the turn of the 20th century there were 785 Bulgarian schools in Macedonia with 1,250 teachers and 39,892 pupils. The Bulgarian Exarchate held jurisdiction over seven dioceses (Skopje, Debar, Ohrid, Bitola, Nevrokop, Veles and Strumica), i.e. the whole of Vardar and Pirin Macedonia and some of southern Macedonia. The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), which was founded in 1893 as the only guerilla organization established by locals, quickly developed a wide network of committees and agents turning into a "state within the state" in much of Macedonia. IMRO fought not only against the Ottoman authorities, but also against the pro-Serbian and pro-Greek parties in Macedonia, terrorising the population supporting them.The failure of the Ilinden Uprising in 1903 signified a second weakening of the Bulgarian cause resulting in closure of schools and a new wave of emigration to Bulgaria. IMRO was also weakened and the number of Serbian and Greek guerilla groups in Macedonia substantially increased. The Exarchate lost the dioceses of Skopje and Debar to the Serbian Patriarchate in 1902 and 1910, respectively. Despite this, the Bulgarian cause preserved its dominant position in central and northern Macedonia and was also strong in southern Macedonia.Slav Macedonian PropagandaThe Slav Macedonian idea during that period was at best at the inception stage. In 1880 Gjorgi Pulevski published in Sofia Slognica Rechovska, an attempt at a grammar of the language of the Slavs who lived in Macedonia. The first significant manifestation of Slav Macedonian nationalism was the book On the Macedonian Matters (1904) by Krste Misirkov. In the book Misirkov advocated that the Slavs of Macedonia should take a separate way from the Bulgarians and the Bulgarian language. While arguing from a pro-Serbian point of view, Misirkov considered that the term "Macedonian" should be used to define the whole Slav population of Macedonia, obliterating the existing division between Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbians. The adoption of a separate Macedonian language was also advocated as a means of unification of the Macedonian Slavs with Serbian, Bulgarian and Greek consciousness. On the Macedonian Matters was written in the western (Bitola-Prilep) Macedonian dialect which was proposed by Misirkov as the basis for the future language, and, as Misirkov says, a dialect which is most different from all other neighbouring languages (as the eastern dialect was too close to Bulgarian and the northern one too close to Serbian).While Misirkov talked about the Macedonian consciousness and the Macedonian language as about a future goal, he described Macedonia of the early 20th century as inhabited by Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbs, Turks, Albanians, Aromanians, and Jews. As regards the Macedonians themselves, Misirkov claimed that they had called themselves Bulgarians until the publication of the book and were always called Bulgarians by independent observers until 1878 when the view of the Serbs also started to get recognition.Misirkov rejected the ideas in On the Macedonian Matters later and turned into a staunch advocate of the Bulgarian cause - to return to the Slav Macedonian idea again in the 1920s. The ideas of Misirkov, Pulevski and other Macedonian Slavs remained largely unnoticed until the 1940s when they were adopted by the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and influenced the codification of the Macedonian language.Claims of present-day historians from the Republic of Macedonia that the "Autonomists" in IMRO defended a Macedonian position are largely ungrounded as IMRO regarded itself and was regarded - by the Ottoman authorities, the Greek guerilla groups, the contemporary press in Europe and even by Misirkov - as an exclusively Bulgarian organization. Also, the present-day historians from Macedonia claim that there were two IMRO organisations - a macedonian one and a vrhovistic one, which declared as a bulgarian organisation.Romanian PropagandaAttempts at a Romanian propaganda among the Aromanian population of Macedonia began as early as 1855. The first Romanian school was, however, established as late as 1886. The total number of schools grew to ca. 40 at the beginning of the 20th century. Though the Romanian propaganda made some success in Bitola, Krushevo, the Aromanian villages in the districts of Bitola and Ohrid and even among some Slavs, the majority of the Macedonian Aromanians remained advocates of Hellenism.Independent Point of ViewDistribution of races in the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor, Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, New York (1923)Independent sources in Europe between 1878 and 1918 generally tended to view the Slavic population of Macedonia in two ways: as Bulgarians and as Macedonian Slavs.German scholar Gustav Weigand was one of the most prominent representatives of the first trend with the books Ethnography of Macedonia (1924, written 1919) and partially with The Aromanians (1905). The author described all ethnic groups living in Macedonia, showed empirically the close connection between the western Bulgarian dialects and the Macedonian dialects and defined the latter as Bulgarian. The International Commission constituted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1913 to inquire into causes and conduct of the Balkan Wars also talked about the Slavs of Macedonia as about Bulgarians in its report published in 1914. The Commission had eight members from Great Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia and the United States.The term "Macedonian Slavs" was used by scholars and publicists in three general meanings:- as a politically convenient term to define the Slavs of Macedonia without offending Serbian and Bulgarian nationalism;
- as a distinct group of Slavs different from both Serbs and Bulgarians, yet closer to the Bulgarians and having predominantly Bulgarian ethnical and political affinities;
- as a distinct group of Slavs different from both Serbs and Bulgarians having no developed national consciousness and no fast ethnical and political affinities (the definition of Cvijic).
An instance of the use of the first meaning of the term was, for example, the ethnographic map of the Slavic peoples published in (1890) by Russian scholar Zarjanko, which identified the Slavs of Macedonia as Bulgarians. Following an official protest from Serbia the map was later reprinted identifying them under the politically correct name "Macedonian Slavs".The term was used in a completely different sense by British journalist Henry Brailsford in Macedonia, its races and their future (1906). The book contains Brailford's impressions from a five-month stay in Macedonia shortly after the suppression of the Ilinden Uprising and represents an ethnographic report. Brailford defines the dialect of Macedonia as neither Serbian, nor Bulgarian, yet closer to the second one. An opinion is delivered that any Slavic nation could "win" Macedonia if it is to use the needed tact and resources, yet it is claimed that the Bulgarians have already done that. Brailsford uses synonymously the terms "Macedonian Slavs" and "Bulgarians", the "Slavic language" and the "Bulgarian language". The chapter on the Macedonians Slavs/the Bulgarians is titled the "Bulgarian movement", the IMRO activists are called "bulgarophile Macedonians".The third use of the term can be noted among scholars from the allied countries (above all France and the United Kingdom) after 1915 and is roughly equal to the definition given by Cvijic (see above).Development of the Name "Macedonian Slavs"The name "Macedonian Slavs" started to appear in publications at the end of the 1880s and the beginning of the 1890s. Though the successes of the Serbian propaganda effort had proved that the Slavic population of Macedonia was not only Bulgarian, they still failed to convince that this population was, in its turn, Serbian. Rarely used until the end of the 19th century compared to ‘Bulgarians’, the name ‘Macedonian Slavs’ served more to conceal rather than define the national character of the population of Macedonia. Scholars resorted to it usually as a result of Serbian pressure or used it as a general name for the Slavs inhabiting Macedonia regardless of their ethnic affinities.However, by the beginning of the 20th century, the continued Serbian propaganda effort and especially the work of Cvijic had managed to firmly entrench the concept of the Macedonian Slavs in European public opinion and the name was used almost as frequently as ‘Bulgarians’. Even pro-Bulgarian researchers such as H. Brailsford and N. Forbes argued that the Macedonian Slavs differed from both Bulgarians and Serbs. Practically all scholars before 1915, however, including strongly pro-Serbian ones such as R.W. Seton-Watson, admitted that the affinities of the majority of them lied with the Bulgarian cause and the Bulgarians and classified them as such.Bulgaria's entry into World War I on the side of the Central Powers signified a dramatic shift in the way European public opinion viewed the Slavic population of Macedonia. For the Central Powers the Slavs of Macedonia became nothing but Bulgarians, whereas for the Allies they turned into anything else but Bulgarians. The ultimate victory of the Allies in 1918 led to the victory of the vision of the Slavic population of Macedonia as of Macedonian Slavs, an amorphous Slavic mass without a developed national consciousness.The "Missing" National ConsciousnessWhat stood behind the difficulties to properly define the nationality of the Slavic population of Macedonia was the apparent levity with which this population regarded it. Nationality in early 20th century Macedonia was a matter of political convictions and financial benefits, of what was considered politically correct at the specific time and of which armed guerilla group happened to visit the respondent's home last. The process of Hellenization at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century affected only a limited stratum of the population, the Bulgarian Revival in the middle of the 19th century was too short to form a solid Bulgarian consciousness, the financial benefits given by the Serbian propaganda were too tempting to be declined. It was not a rare occurrence for whole villages to switch their nationality from Greek to Bulgarian and then to Serbian within a few years or to be Bulgarian in the presence of a Bulgarian commercial agent and Serbian in the presence of a Serbian consul. On several occasions peasants were reported to have answered in the affirmative when asked if they were Bulgarians and again in the affirmative when asked if they were Serbs. Though this certainly cannot be valid for the whole population, many Russian and Western diplomats and travellers defined Macedonians as lacking a "proper" national consciousness.Statistical dataIt should be noted that none of the data can flawlessly reflet reality as each source has used its own criteria. The data depends on the researcher's views concerning the definitive factor of "ethnicity", which in this case varies between language, religion, and personal ethnic conciousness. Another reason of its questionable reliability, is the fact that each research is conducted on a geographical region of variable borders. In that respect, Greeks restricted the borders of Macedonia to the geographical region of Classical and Ottoman times, while most Slavs (including Serbs and Bulgars) had doubled its borders in order to include a great number of Slavic speaking populations. - Ottoman census of Hilmi Pasha (1904)
- Vilaeti of Thessaloniki Greeks: 373,227 Bulgars: 207,317
- Vilaeti of Monastiri Greeks: 261,283 Bulgars: 178,412
- Santzaki of Scopje Greeks: 13,452 Bulgars: 172,735
Todor Simovski, writing in 1972, estimated the population of the area as slightly over one million people, of which more than 360,000 were Slavs – whose allegiance was claimed by Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian nationalists – and just over 250,000 were Greeks. The remaining population was principally composed of Albanians, Jews, Roma, Turks and Vlachs. |
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